Tag Archives: summer

A friend of mine posted these Tick Repellent recipes on Facebook today, so I wanted to share with all of you. I don’t know where you live, but here in the Midwest, we have a LOT of ticks! My husband and I love the outdoors, so I will definitely be trying this recipe next time we go hiking. It’s crazy how different regions have different insect troubles. For example, my sister and her husband live in New Orleans (this is their first year there), and they were completely shocked and disgusted to have a swarm of termites buzzing around their patio and trying to get into their home when summer began. Meanwhile, when we lived in Alabama, I was covered in mosquito bites all summer and fall. In fact, when I was still seeing a Reproductive Endocrinologist regularly for fertility treatments, the nurses would always ask me what was wrong with my legs because they were constantly covered in pink bumps. (I’m sure the fact that we lived by a lake and had a pond in our community made the mosquitoes much worse.) We also saw cock roaches every night in the summer crawling all around sidewalks and parking lots. It was absolutely disgusting! However, in all our time in Alabama, I never once had a tick on me after being in the woods. In fact, last fall, our puppy was finally big enough to go hiking (we started taking him when he was 4 months old and could handle the long walks better, although we never went on very long hikes with him at that time), so I took him with me on short hikes at least twice a week. I mean, we lived just a few miles away from a beautiful state park, and within about 15 minutes of a few other great hiking spots. He NEVER had a tick attach to him, and he spent quite a bit of time in the woods with us. Fast forward to this summer, living in the Midwest, and we go on our first hike since moving here and he is covered in ticks! We were forewarned, though. When we took him to get his annual vaccines a few weeks ago, the veterinarian told us he needed to be vaccinated for Lyme Disease since he didn’t receive that vaccination with his other boosters at 8 and 12 weeks. She told us Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are major concerns in this area because of the large population of ticks that carry those diseases. Thank God we had him vaccinated before our first hike of the year, because wow–she wasn’t kidding about the huge tick population around here!

Anyway, that was a really long introduction just to give you these simple DIY Tick Repellents: one for your pets, and one for you and other human friends.

Natural Tick Repellent for Dogs

Mix one cup of water with 2 cups of distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle. Add 2 spoonfuls of vegetable or almond oil, put on the lid, and shake up your dog’s new tick repellent. This is safe for dogs and should keep ticks at bay, because ticks hate the smell of vinegar, and the oils contain sulfur, which also keeps ticks from wanting to bite into your dog for a meal.

Spray this mixture all over your dog’s fur, avoiding sensitive areas such as the eyes, nose, mouth, and genitals. Reapply no more than 3 times per day.

Natural Tick Repellent for Humans

Mix one cup of water with 2 cups of distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle. Add in about 20 drops of an essential oil to prevent you from wreaking of vinegar all day. Eucalyptus oil and citrus oils are good options, because they also work to repel ticks. Put the lid on the bottle and shake up your new tick repellent. This can be sprayed on clothing, skin, and hair, and should be reapplied every 4 hours as long as you are outside in a wooded area.

Even though these sprays should keep ticks from catching a ride on you or your dog, be sure to check everyone for ticks when you return home just to be safe.